Dead on the outside, alive inside
by may uzumaki
Summary: Ash gets captured by J. He falls asleep protecting everyone and wakes up in a hospital. Well, sort of wakes up in a hospital. You see, he is sort of a ghost. But everyone else still thinks he is alive. Can he protect friends and family?
1. Chapter 1

Hey there. This is my first fic with chapters. O.K i know chapter two isn't up yet but it will be by tomorrow. I hope you enjoy it this chapter and the next one.

* * *

You can't do this! Stop it now and let him up!

Silence them.

_No. They were right. J couldn't let herself get away with this._

Ash hang on!

_I would like to but I can't_. A smile forced its way on to his bleeding face.

At least he thought one did. He couldn't see, blood had blinded him. Some of the blood was drying, as far as he could tell. But some wounds were still allowing blood out.

Ash hold on, we'll get you back up.

No. He was too cold. Already parts of his body were numb and he didn't think he could move other parts. His bare feet were turning blue, and his arms had snow settling on them.

BANG!

The sound of a gun. Was J dead? Was a friend dead? He would never know. The whole world of his memories was disappearing; he could see faces of people he thought he knew but didn't know the names of. There was the face of a boy the same age as him, with spiky brown hair, a girl with orange hair swimming, an older boy sitting on a rock, looking fierce. Again he would never know. He couldn't hear, couldn't see, and could only feel cold and searing pain. Now the whole world that he had know was lost, he couldn't remember a thing. He was drifting in and out of conciseness. Then suddenly it felt like he was falling. Then he hit something really hard, and felt new pain. And then came the cold, it took his breath away. It felt like he had been dropped into icy water. Now the water was getting warmer and he was slowly falling asleep.

Then he truly did fall asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Well I kept my promise and published this the day after the story started. So read and enjoy. Also thanks for reviewing JX Valentine.

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He felt odd.

He felt warm

Where was he?

Only one way to find out, decided the dark haired boy. So he forced his eyes open.

And woke up completely.

He was floating in the air. And his material body seemed to be at least a metre below him! Was he a ghost? No, that was stupid. He studied the room and quickly and silently summarized that:

This was a hospital, he was hooked up to machines, was covered in bandages, and therefore he must be alive. Wait, why was he hooked up to machines and covered in bandages? This was worrying. There had to be someone who could explain this to him. Scanning the room again, he saw what he had missed in his haste before. There was a boy about his age with spiky brown hair sitting in the corner of the room. He had probably been there awhile, because he was fast asleep. Moving towards him, full of hope, Ash shook the boy's shoulder. At least, tried to shake the boy's shoulder. His hand went though the boy.

'WHAT IS GOING ON?' Ash screamed, unable to hold it in any longer. This made no sense, he must be alive, yet he looked and acted like a ghost. He couldn't remember anything expect his first name. And what use was that? He was a ghost, a ghost! No one could hear or see him. He needed someone, someone to explain what the hell was going on. Who was the boy in front of him, who was he, how was he like this? Nothing made any sense. He needed someone to talk to. Someone, anyone, even this boy here, just as long as they were awake! Then the boy stirred. Sitting up straight, he starred at the material body of Ash, then sighed and took out something from his pocket, did something with, then held it up to his ear and spoke in to it.

'Gary here, still no movement or sign of life. His condition is stable, besides the fact that he is in a coma. Come over, it's lonely having only a half dead body to talk to.' And with that he did some other stuff with the device and put it back in his pocket. Just after this happened, a man who looked older then he probably was walked into the room along with a boy with purple hair. The man glanced at the machines; whist the boy took a seat by the other boy, who Ash now assumed was called Gary.

'You can't do anything?' Gary questioned. It was directed at the man.

'No I can't. Not even I can do anything about it. But we could tell him what happened; the doctors said that when you're in coma you wake up. Inside your head of course.'

'Your point being?' this time it was the purple haired boy asking the question. Ash decided to call him Purple and the man Grandpa.

'The doctors said he might not remember anything when he wakes up. Absolutely nothing. So we might as well fill him in now about whom we are, what we are to him and how this happened. Maybe even tell him about his past life.'

'So we should just talk to him? That's not going to help him is it! If we are going to do something, it should be something that will make him wake up!' yelled Purple. The whole room went silent. It stayed silent for at least a minute and then Gary said, 'I don't know, if I were in a coma and I couldn't remember a thing I would want to be told stuff. I think it might make me want to wake up if I knew what was going on.' At this point Purple seemed to slump, defected. Then in an odd voice he said quite clearly, 'Right then, listen up boy who is currently asleep in the bed who goes by the name of Ash Ketchum. My name is Paul, and I am your biggest rival in the Sinnoh region. In case you don't know where that is, then listen up closely. There are five regions in this world, the Kanto region, where you were born and raised, the Johto region which you have visited and is extremely close to Kanto, the Honan region which you have also visited and the Sinnoh region, the place where you are right now. The guy that sounds like an old man is called Cyrus, he will tell you about himself later probably. Then the other guy in the room is called Gary, and he is your biggest rival ever. He will also tell you about himself later. Now then instead of telling you about people who you will not get details on until later. I will tell you about myself and you. Right after I have gone and got a drink. And with this he sat up and left the room. Gary and Cyrus (he must be the oldest in the room, so therefore he must be Cyrus) stared at each other for a minute then Gary said muttered something about being back in a minute and walked out of the room. Cyrus stayed. Then he opened his mouth, before closing it again. Had he been about to say something? Ash wondered, Cyrus certainly hadn't yawned. Then something rang. Cyrus took out the device that Gary had used from his pocket and spoke in to it. He said, 'Who is this?' then stayed quiet for a while, before speaking again, 'I'll be over shortly.'

Even though he didn't know it at the time, Ash had just let Cyrus have a conversation, that would result in his* near death. And then he had let had let him* walk away

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Please rate and review. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Sorry if this chapter was not as good as you hoped but I did my best and I will try to make the next chapter better. I will try and publish the next chapter before the end of next week but no promises. My computer is being really slow and keeps crashing so yeah, maybe no more chapters for a while.

* Cyrus is the one being spoken about here.


	3. Chapter 3

Well chapter three is finally out. Sorry it took so long. But it is finally out. And Dawn appears in this chapter! Read on to find out more.

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Gary, Paul, Cyrus, Gary, Paul, Cyrus, Gary, Paul... O.K what was the point of this?! How was he supposed to remember anything them from what Paul had told him. There must be thousands of Pauls, Garys and Cyruss in this world. And you're from the Kanto region! Where in the Kanto region? He didn't have all the towns and cities in Kanto memorized. He had lost his memory! Not that knowing the names of towns and cities would help at all. But still! Would it have killed Paul to tell him where? Seriously, every word helped here! Ash was fuming and was barely paying attention to the conversation below him. Wait, conversation below him? When had that started? Snapping out of his rage Ash started listening to the conversation below him. It was between Paul and Gary. Gary seemed to be lecturing Paul about some wrong information whist Paul was yelling about how he could sort it out. Then all of a sudden, Paul yelled, I don't need your help! I don't need anyone's help! I can do everything on my own! Then he left the room. Gary started at the door, seemed to make a snap decision, and went and sat back on one of the chairs.

Jeez, you know you shouldn't have done that Gary.

HUH? Yelled Ash. He had been lost in thought, wondering what Gary and Paul had been arguing about. Now there was a girl standing in the doorway. She had blue hair and blue eyes. She was pretty as well, Ash thought. But who was she and what was she doing here? An explanation maybe Gary?

Just because he's your boyfriend doesn't mean I should give special treatment Dawn.

I wasn't talking about that Gary! Paul's been alone for almost all of his life and he was the one who found his dad first. Hanging from the ceiling with blood everywhere that is. And that was when he was five. He barely remembers his dad and the parts that he does remember only involve his dad coming home in drunk, trying to forget his dead wife, whose death he blamed on Paul! Then Reggie left when Paul was seven to go on his journey! It's a wonder that Paul trusts or talks to anyone any more.

I know his story Dawn. You didn't need to remind me or Ash here of it.

Ash can't remember anything remember!

Who cares, you didn't need to tell him Paul's life story right now. Even if he remembers that for some reason you didn't need to bring it up in his mind or mine.

Or mine.

Dawn and Gary froze. Very, very slowly they turned they turned they heads towards the doorway, which Dawn had stepped out of at some point in the conversation. Paul was standing there. And the expression on his face wasn't normal. It might have been called extreme rage, but Ash felt it had far exceeded that. It wasn't cold fury, it wasn't rage. It was something much, much more worse. Then he spoke with cold precession.

I was going to forget all about that. I got to know you and everyone else and I thought I might finally forget. But thanks anyway. You managed to make me remember my father and my past. You e me remember how alone I was, how dark it was. And you managed to make me hate you so much. I hate you more then I have ever hated anyone ever before. Congratulations.

And that was when Paul left.

And Ash had the horrible feeling it was all going to end in disaster.

* * *

Have I left you wondering what's going to happen next? Have I, have I? Well if so good. Also, Gary was suggesting that Dawn is Paul's girlfriend. There's no connection between the two! Again I will try to update within the next week but no promises. Anyway, remember to rate and review. And I have a Naruto fic in the making, so if you want me to publish the first chapter of that, tell me. See you next chapter.


	4. Chapter 4

Well here it is. Chapter four. I'm really sorry for taking so long to update so I hope you enjoy.  


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Gary and Dawn gazed dumbstruck at where Paul had been. They gazed for a very long time. Ash did as well. When he finally snapped out of it he debated whether he should go after Paul and see where he went, or whether he should stay in the room. He decided on staying in the room. He had no idea where he would go if he left, and, now that he thought about it Paul had probably left the hospital by now. He glanced at Gary and Dawn and saw that neither had moved. Then Dawn looked at Gary with hate in her eyes and ran out of the room. Gary raised his arm and opened his mouth but no sound came out. He just let his arm drop and then he took on an expression of great sadness. Ash felt sorry for him. Then Gary left, maybe to go after Dawn, maybe to just be on his own for awhile. He would never know.

Then a shout came. It was Gary. He had just yelled, "Who are you?" Then more shouts came.

Hey don't go in there!

Stop what are you doing?

Hey!

The last shout was more panicked, and it came just before the door came crashing down with Gary on top of it. The man who had probably knocked him down was standing right behind where the door had been. Behind him where five other men. The man who had knocked the door down seemed to be the leader and he motioned for the others to enter the room just as he stepped in. The others came in, stepping on Gary forcefully. Gary groaned. One of the men kicked his head. This time Gary stayed quiet. The leader went over to the bed where his solid body lay and picked it up and tossed it over his shoulder. What did they want with his real body? And then a shout came. It was Dawn. She was screaming for help. Had the men got her as well? Where they abducting, if that was the right word for it, Paul as well? What about Cyrus? What about the other people who knew him. Even if he didn't know them, they would know him. And the men would know that too. This was bad. Then he saw Dawn in the gap where the door had been. She was being held by one man and no matter what she did she couldn't get free. She was crying. And then she saw his body on the leader's shoulder. She yelled at him to put it down, but the man merely smirked. Then she saw Gary and started screaming his name, begging for him to wake up. Then one of the men picked up Gary and flung him over his shoulder. Dawn had given up screaming at this point and was just crying. Gary wasn't going to wake up. Ash cursed, and for some reason yelled Gary's name. Then the oddest thing happened. Gary glowed a faint blue for a slight second. Then he opened his eyes. It took him a second to realise where it was, it looked like, but as soon as he got his bearings, he brought his fist up and made contact with the man who was holding him head's. The man dropped like a stone. Then Gary went for the man who was holding Dawn, but one of the other men got in the way. He tackled Gary to the ground, and the two started wrestling. It was clear that man had an advantage though; he was twice Gary's weight and height and was on top of him. This was bad; Gary would go down again if someone didn't do something. The man raised his fist to punch Gary, and then Ash held out his arm, as if hoping that he could stop the man. And then Ash's real body glowed for a slight second, and a blue pulsing ball of blue light shot out of Ash's spiritual (he was a ghost, so that term seemed right) out stretched hand. It hit the man and he was flung backwards. He hit the wall with a sickening crunch. Gary winced; then went right for the man holding Dawn. It was easy; he was staring with amazement at his fallen comrade. He went down and let go of Dawn. She ran right into Gary and hugged him until he pushed her off in order for him to kick another man down. But this one didn't go down so easily. He grabbed Gary's leg and pulled the brown haired boy towards him. Then he grabbed the other leg and swung Gary into a wall. Blood started to trickle out of Gary's head. But Gary didn't go down. He got back up, but was slammed into the wall again and held by his neck in place. He struggled, but couldn't get free. Dawn was back in another man's grasp. She couldn't get free. Then Gary opened his mouth and screamed with all his might,

EVERYONE WHO IS ASH'S FRIEND RUN! JUST RUN, DON'T DO ANYTHING ELSE, JUST RUN! And then, as an afterthought he screamed again, but a different sentence this time. He screamed, PAUL, CYRUS! HELP! He was then silenced by the man who had pinned him to the wall, who squeezed his neck. But then Dawn started as well, she screamed a message to Paul. She screamed, PAUL! HELP!

That was when the window shattered. Everyone turned towards it, which didn't work out for the guy holding Dawn; he was punched in the face and fell to the ground. The person who had committed the offence: Paul. He was standing there in the room, with a small cut on his face from broken glass. He looked like he had calmed down, but only a bit. He still looked extremely mad. The men had snapped out of the trances and all of them (expect the leader), even the man who had had Gary pinned against the wall went for Paul. Paul went into action right away; he took out one with a simple punch to the stomach and then an uppercut to the chin. The second one was kicked where it really hurt and went down crying like a baby. The last two attacked together, but still failed. Paul dodged the punches and kicks that were aimed at him and grabbed both men by the back of their head. Then he slammed the two together, hard. The floor got to know the twosome's faces at that point. Paul turned and faced the leader. Then the leader did something Ash never expected him to do. He laughed. Paul frowned and opened his mouth to speak. But no words escaped. He was hit on the head and pushed to the floor rapidly with a kick to the back by one of the men he had seemly knocked down. He hadn't. Instead the man had gone down and pretended to be out. He groaned as blood trickled out of his mouth. Then he closed his eyes. Ash almost screamed. The situation had almost seemed positive just then. Then Paul had to go down. Gary hadn't been able to help; one of the other fallen men had got up and had knocked the boy on to his stomach. Unable to move with his arms pinned behind him, Gary didn't even bother to cry out. Dawn had lost all hope as well. A man entered the room. He walked over to the leader and muttered a few words to him. The leader nodded and motioned for the others to leave. The man holding Dawn knocked her out with a quick blow to the head, the man on top of Gary likewise. Then over the shoulders of their captors the two went and the group left. Ash followed them. As they walked though the hospital Ash noticed something. There were no people anywhere. Then they reached what seemed like the main room. Bodies were everywhere. Ash nearly screamed until he heard one of the men mutter, great what sleeping powder does, at which he sighed with relief. They left the hospital and walked over to a van. They flung the three bodies into the back of the van and climbed in the front. Ash went up to the van (he had been so busy watching what the men did he hadn't got in) and found that he could drift though walls, much to his surprise. He found out just in time because the van set off at that point, taking them to who knows where.

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A lot of violence in this chapter. In the next chapter we find out where the van is going and who wants Ash and friends. We also find out what happans to Cyrus. And by the way, no one has had Pokemon on them since the last chapter. Don't ask why. By the way, I am going to do a Naruto fic. It will be one of these return of Sasuke ones but with a twist. No one takes any notcie of him and seems to hate him. Then Kakashi turns up and we find out Naruto has been caught by the Akatsuki. Then a guy who believes art is a blast turns up. All this comes after a one-shot I am going to write. One last thing, rate and review! See ya next time.


	5. Chapter 5

Hi there. For these who have bothered to look, you will have seen that I have published a Naruto fic. Have a look please! Away, enjoy this fic.  


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Dawn was sleeping.

Gary was staring at the wall.

Paul had long given up his reckless attacks at the van's wall after someone had pointed something in his face.

Now the three just sat silently. It was like one of these movies were the main character gets captured and taken to the bad guy's lair, where he is saved after losing all hope, Ash thought. So, we should all be saved. Just after we lose all our hope. This should be easy, Gary already done that, and Dawn seemed to do it a long time ago. Paul will have to do it soon. Then I lose hope, and we get saved! HA! He yelled the last part. As expected, no one heard it.

After what felt like years, the van stopped. Paul (who had fallen asleep so time ago) opened his eyes Ash wondered if he had ever been asleep. Gary (who had kept on waking up and going back to sleep for some time now) gradually opened his eyes. Dawn (who had been asleep almost for the whole trip) was gently shaken awake by Paul. Then a man opened the door, the bright light that made its way through the open door nearly blinding everyone. He stepped in and grabbed Paul, and roughly pulled him up. Paul didn't even show a hint of struggling. He simply allowed the man to pull him out of the van. Two other men came and repeated the same thing for Dawn and Gary. Ash followed the group. They walked down to a corridor and came to a door. The man holding Dawn pushed the door open. Ash followed the group into the room. What he saw made him gasp in amazement. The room seemed to be a control room. It was covered in machines and looked like something out of one of these movies, where the bad guy meets the good guy in a room that looks like it comes from the next century. The bad guy swirls round on a chair to face the good guy. A chair just like that one in the middle of the room. Did this bad guy get the whole idea for their evil lair from movies? Then the chair turned to revel a woman with grey hair and glasses. She smiled and said,

Well, well. If it isn't Gary Oak, Dawn, Paul and the miracle boy.

At the mention of the "miracle boy" Ash turned round and saw that his body was in the arms of another man. He must have followed the group after they had been taken out of the van. Why was he being called the miracle boy? And who was this evil lady? The one who happened to be speaking right now. He blinked and escaped into reality.

How much can we get for this one?

Probably at least ten thousand, his grandfather is Professor Oak after all m'am. Purple here (the man talking shook Paul), not as much, he only has his brother. And Rainy here, we might get a decent amount; her mother could easily win thousands of pounds in a contest and give us all of it. But I wouldn't do grandson here for awhile, J m'am.

Her name is J? Ash wondered aloud. No one heard.

I know that! J snapped at the man. Get them under lock and key and put the blue haired man in the same room. Now hurry.

At this point the men left and Ash followed, just after noticing one thing. The room had had windows all around. You could only see sky.

They were flying.

And there was no way out.

And there was also no way in.

This wasn't like any movie.

This was real life.

And no one was coming.

They were on their own.

* * *

I aplogise for the size, I try to write more in upcoming chapters. Anyway, about the man calling Dawn rainy. Whist it may seem to be because she cried a lot previously, I actually put some thought into this name. Dawn is basically sunrise right? So I made sunrise in to sunny, and then sunny into rainy, because of how Dawn has been acting. So actually I suppose it is because of her crying. But I did put more thought into this then the name "miracle boy". That just came to me as the right name. Anyway, see ya soon. I should have the next chapter up by next week (I hope). So see ya then.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter six. Enjoy.  


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Well this is... troublesome.

Give the man a prize.

No need to be like Paul.

Oh come on Oak, we're in J' airship, we being held prisoner, and one of our number used to be one of the bad guys and is currently sitting over there looking half dead but failing to act like someone who is half dead! And another guy is currently in a coma, unable to wake up! I would see that the situation is hopeless!

The two young boys continued like this whist Cyrus and Dawn watched. They looked at each other and sighed.

We're doomed aren't we?

Yep.

You know them better than I do, should we bother to stop them?

Na.

I thought so, muttered Cyrus. He had a cut on his forehead that was still bleeding, and his skin was paler then it was before in the places that weren't coated in blood. His face was badly bruised.

Shouldn't you have fainted by now?

Most people would have.

I take it you are not "most people"?

Correct.

Then the two spoke no more. Paul and Gary continued to argue and all in all the situation seemed it was hopeless Ash thought. Then suddenly the ship tilted drastically to the side. Everyone (expect Cyrus) yelled as they slid across the floor and crashed into the wall. Everyone (this time Cyrus included) winced.

What was that?

Was that meant to happen?

Generally people don't steer airships like that you two.

We all know that Cyrus! You're not helping at all here.

I'm supposed to be helping you do what?

Something! I don't know! I don't know anything alright! You don't need to rub it in alright! I got enough of that with dad! Especially when he was drunk!

Everyone stared at Paul in amazement as he broke down crying. Ash hadn't thought that Paul was really the person to break down like that. But then again, the day had been quite stressful. He did have a reason to do this then, Ash thought. He watched as Paul just sobbed like there was no tomorrow. Then his mouth dropped as Cyrus put his arm round Paul. It was an awkward gesture, but Paul looked up, questioning the action. Cyrus muttered something about how Ash was going to get at him when he woke up if he kept crying like this. Paul immediately tried to stop crying, but failed. Gary laughed and said something about how Ash could silence Paul, gaining him a devil look from Paul. He shut up. Then Dawn muttered something about how being on an airship changes people. Everyone saw her point. Then the whole room lapsed into silence, Paul had stopped crying after Gary's comment. Then Dawn said that time passed quicker when you were asleep, and her Pokétch said it was 10:00 at night. I'm going to go sleep, she muttered, closing her eyes. She used Gary's shoulder as a pillow and Gary slightly blushed. Then Paul nodded off on to Dawn's shoulder and Gary followed. Cyrus was quickly the only one left awake. He sat quietly, his eyes darting around the room, as if trying to see something no one else could. His eyes rested on Ash a couple of times, but they never stayed on him for more than a couple of seconds. Then he looked at Ash's body. It was right next to him. He pulled it upright into a sitting position. Then his eyes started to dart around again. This time, his eyes found the spot where Ash was and didn't stay. Did he know he was here, Ash pondered. To test it, he moved to the right. Cyrus' eyes followed him. Could he see him? If he could, could he hear him? It would be nice if he knew the answer.

I can see you.

Ash looked at Cyrus, surprised. Was he talking to him? He must be, Cyrus wouldn't speak to himself in that way. Feeling confused, Ash tried a sentence,

What happened?

What do you mean?

How did I end up like this?

Your aura.

What the hell is that suppose to mean?

Tell me, what do you remember?

Nothing! I only knew that my name was Ash. You and the others filled me in on some of the other details, but it feels like so few! I don't get it! Why am I like this, what the heck is aura?

Cyrus leant back, and seemed to ponder the matter with great thought. Then he seemed to debate something. Then he reached over to Gary, and rummaged around a pocket. He took out a device and did some stuff with it. Then he held up the device. On it showed an odd... animal, if it could be called that.

This (Cyrus gestured to the animal like thing) is a Pokémon.

Poke-e-mon?

Yes. This world is full of them. People catch them in things called Pokeballs. The Pokémon that you catch are stored in them. You can carry up to seven at a time. Anyway, this Pokémon has the power to see something called aura.

What's that?

Aura is something that is in everything. Rocks, plants, Pokémon, even humans. No matter where you go there will be aura. Now listen closely to the next part. Whist everything has aura, most things can't control it. Only some humans and three species of Pokémon can. This Pokémon (he gestured to the Pokémon shown on the device) is one of these three species. It is called Lucario. It can see aura and use it.

Use it?

Yes. Lucario, along with some humans can control there aura. It is a power that is very difficult to master, but when you master it, you have powers that others have to build machines or catch certain Pokemon to have. You have ability to read the minds and actions of other beings, the ability to sense other auras and see your surroundings, even when your eyes are covered. Some objects can even be looked though. You can project it to create barriers and attacks. There are certain flowers in this world called time flowers. They can show you the past if someone who has a strong aura touches them. Others can send their aura to someone else, although it can kill you. Some people can even teleport. It is one of the greatest powers in the world. But as I said before, only some humans can use aura. You are one of these people.

Wha...

It's the reason that you are like this. Most people would die if their sprit was removed from their body. But people like you have such great aura their sprits can leave their bodies. Their aura almost takes over as a sprit.

Then the hospital...

Hm?

At the hospital, Gary got knocked out, I yelled his name, and he glowed blue and woke up. Then when he was fighting, I sent this blue ball of light at one of the men. But no one saw it I think. Would that be the projection ability and the sending aura to others ability.

You did that?

Yes.

That's amazing for someone who has received no training and who's sprit is no longer with its body.

You know I've been thinking. How can you see me? No one else can.

Mt. Cournet.

What?

Did you hear Paul say that I was one of the bad guys?

Yeah I was wondering about that...

I was one of the bad guys. I was the leader of a group called Team Galactic. I had one goal; create a new world, where everyone did what I said and there was no strife. I tried and failed. You and your friends stopped me. But not before I had the power to do it. I summoned two Pokémon. I needed them to create a new world. I used something called the Red Chain to summon them. The two Pokémon were eventually sent back to where they came from by you and your friends. But not before I had been given something. The Red Chain gave me the power to see aura and sprits. I have no idea how or why, it just did. So that's why I can see you.

Cyrus who are you talking to?

Cyrus and Ash whipped their heads to the side to gaze at Gary. He gazed bleary-eyed at Cyrus. I can't see anyone, at least talk sense if you're talking to yourself.

Wake the others. Ash, I need you to focus on becoming visible. Put everything into it, you need to become visible.

What're you talking about?

Dawn what time is it.

10:30 at night.

Good night.

Wait Paul just wait.

Meanwhile Ash was concentrating. He started to focus on making everything visible. Then he heard a muffed gasp. He opened his eyes. Everyone was staring at him.

Ash...

Ash?

Wake me up.

Hey you guys.

You're speaking!

He's a ghost this isn't possible.

I'm not gonna wake up am I.

Oaul, we can see Ash and all you can talk about is sleep.

Shut up tree!

y

The boys quickly started another fight about who knows what, everyone got lost after Gary yelled that strawberries were not yellow.

Ash, are you dead?

As far as I know I'm not.

He isn't.

Thank goodness. But wait, why do you look like a ghost then?

Cyrus explain.

As Cyrus started on a lengthy explanation of why Ash was how he was, Ash moved into break up Paul and Gary.

Hey you two...

Since when has lipstick been made out of hair? How do you even know that?

A little Pidgey told me.

Why would a Pidgey know?

Since messenger birds!

Pidgey can't read!

What about the school!

What...

GUYS!

WHAT!

WILL YOU SHUT UP!

Fine...

So what the heck is a Pidgy?

A Pidgy? How can you not know what a Pidgy is?

I lost my memory Gary.

Good point. The doctors were obviously right.

So back to my original question...

Oh right! Paul explain.

Paul reached into his pocket and brought out a device identical to the one Cyrus had used to show Ash the Pokémon expect it was black. He did something with it and showed Ash the result. A small bird was shown on the screen. Was that a Pidgey? Kinda cool.

What is that device and that communicator you used back at the hospital Gary?

It's called a Pokédex and a Pokénav. They took the Pokénav off me so I couldn't call for help.

Great...

The boys lapsed into silence. Cyrus had finished talking to Dawn, so the whole room was silent. Then Ash had a brainwave.

You know I can see my surroundings even with my eyes closed and sense other people's auras? Do you think I could get out of this airship and look for someone who knows us and then lead then to this thing?

Ash that is the smartest thing I have heard you say in a long time

One problem, how will you get back?

Dawn, don't spoil the moment!

She has a point you know Paul.

Shut up Gary!

Look does anyone have a photo of anyone?

Paul has one of Reggie.

How do you know that?

A picture fell out of your pocket in the van. I looked at it before putting it back in your pocket. Anyway, could you just show it to Ash?

Fine.

Paul took out a small piece of paper from his pocket and showed it to Ash. It showed a younger Paul, and a boy who greatly resembled Paul, expect he was smiling. Both of them were smiling in fact.

That's Reggie. He lives in Veilstone City.

Where?

Look at this, Gary said as he removed a piece of paper from his pocket. He unfolded it to show a piece of land.

This is Sinnoh, the place where Veilstone is. Veilstone is this city here (he pointed at a mark). Nobody has any idea where we are now, so you may have to find Sinnoh. Good luck.

Bye then.

Bye.

Good luck.

And without further ado, Ash floated out of the airship and into the unknown.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. By the way, with the aura thing, I got the information about it from Bulbapedia. However, if some parts about it are mentioned and just don't seem right, then check, and then please remember, this is a fanfic. I will try and keep some elements realistic, but some will take some imagination. Anyway, review and rate. See you next chapter.


	7. Notice!

Hi guys. I know I haven't updated this in ages but I honestly can't think of where this story can go. So this story is on hold until the summer holidays, and then I'm going to type up the next chapters and finish the story. You can find out all of the information on my profile.


	8. Chapter 7

I'm finally back! Sorry for not updating this, but nothing came to me when I tried to write it. But I'm determined to get this done, but knowing me it will take ages...

* * *

The first thing Ash did was go down. When he had gone out of the airship, he could only see cloud. As he floated down, he wondered how he was going to find Reggie. He could be anywhere and he had no way to find his way. Just then, land came into view. Ash sped up and quickly found himself in a city. There was nothing that he could see to help him position wise; all he could see was a large tower and an important looking building. The important building seemed like a good place to start. He went over to it and saw a sign on the door. On it was written:

Goldenrod City Gym

Gym Leader: Whitney

So he was in Goldenrod City. That didn't really help him but now he at least knew what town he was in. Then two people walked past him. They were talking and one part of the conversation got Ash's attention.

"What are you talking about? Back in Honan the department store was so much better than the one here in Johto. Even the name was better; Lilycove actually doesn't sound like it is showing off."

He was in Johto! Now he knew what to do. But it would take some time. In the control room he had seen a map. Johto had been on it, and so had Sinnoh. Hoenn and Kanto had roughly been in between them. So if he found Honan or Kanto he would easily find Sinnoh. He only had to go in the right direction. Despite the time it might take, it would get him to Reggie quicker than just randomly floating around. He set off and found himself by the sea. But he knew that he was going too slowly. He needed to go faster. He closed his eyes and wished to go faster. He opened his eyes, and found himself above water with land in sight. Guessing at what had happened, he repeated what he had just done, but without closing his eyes. He moved like a bullet. He found himself at land in seconds. As nothing was around, he started to move, looking for signs of life. About an hour later, he found a path. As many people were walking along it, Ash guessed that it would take him somewhere like a city. It did. He soon found himself in a place that according to a sign was called Mauville City. He had seen the place on the map. It had been outlined in red. Maybe J needed to come here to do something? Or had she already come here? It didn't matter; the map had shown that the city was in Hoenn. He had to keep on going. He had to get to Sinnoh. He managed to get himself moving like he had before, and quickly found himself over the sea. He kept on going and found land. He was lucky this time, he immediately found a town. It was called Sunnyshore. He had no idea where it was but he guessed it was in Sinnoh. He went on. Why was he so panicked? Why did he want to do this so quickly? He didn't remember these people, why did he want to help them so desperately? He just didn't know.

'HEY!'

The shout jolted Ash out of his thoughts and he looked down to see a young boy. He had bright orange hair and wore a white t-shirt with blue trousers. He was waving at Ash. Curious, Ash floated down.

'What happened to you?'

'Huh?'

'I shouted at you at least three times before you noticed. But ignoring that, how did you die? The more tragic the death the more you ghosts struggle to move on.'

'Ghost?'

'Transparent, pale, wandering dead people that regret something that stop them going to the afterlife.'

'I know what a ghost is. I'm not one.'

'You fit the description.'

'Expect the dead part.'

'That makes no sense, how can you look like that if you aren't a ghost?'

'Well it sort of goes like this...'

Ash started mimicking the explanation Cyrus had given, hoping he was making sense to the boy. At the end the boy looked confused, and then an expression of understanding appeared on his face. Ash was surprised; he hadn't grasped the idea so quickly. The boy thought for a minute before saying, 'so in other words there is something called aura, you have a lot of it, and therefore your sprit can leave your body. I understand.'

Ash rose his eyebrows. He would be surprised if the boy actually did understand. But now really wasn't the time to talk to kids who could see him. He needed to get to Veilstone. Very quickly he outlined what he needed to do, and the boy took his turn at raising his eyebrows.

'You want the other side of Sinnoh, the more eastern side. You're in the west.' He pointed in a direction and Ash turned to go. He was about ten meters away when he thought of something.

'Thanks. Hey, how come you can see me?' he asked, turning. The boy rolled his eyes in annoyance.

'I was given a nightmare curtsey of Darkrai. When I woke up I could see you lot. Now leave me alone, I have other things to do in my life then direct lost things like you.'

Ash flushed in annoyance at the comment, and shot off. He soon arrived at Veilstone. He glanced around, hoping that Reggie would appear out of nowhere so he could get back to the others. Of course, he didn't. Ash decided to take his time, floating just above everyone, scanning the crowd for purple hair. Of course, he didn't spot any. Sighing, he started looking though shop windows in the vain hope he could see Reggie. He couldn't see him. Sighing again, he drifted to the edge of the town. Where could Reggie be? Was he out of town?

'What do you mean there's no trace? There must be something!'

Ash jumped at the sound of the yells. Curious, he found the source of the sound. It was a small building, a ranch in fact. He looked in the window, and saw purple hair. Being Ash, he did the first thing that he saw fit too do.

'YAY!' he bellowed, before floating though the window. The man believed to be Reggie suddenly slammed the phone down. Ash recoiled a bit. He hadn't seemed unfriendly in the photo, was he that much different now? But Paul had been smiling in the photo, and he had lost that ability now, so maybe the brother had changed a lot, as in, lost the ability to smile, love, you know, all those positive emotions. But apart from that he was the same. Reggie walked out of the room and into the living room, where he collapsed on to the sofa. The living room was almost completely dedicated to the two brothers. The mantel piece had several cases full of badges on it, and a photo of a younger, smiling Paul. A T.V sat in the corner, covered in dust. A drawer had pictures of both Paul and Reggie on it, and at the back a picture of a young woman, probably only in her late twenties. It was the most looked after obviously, and someone had spent a lot of money on the frame. The woman in it was average height, with black hair tinted blue, and her smile lit up the whole photo.

'Is that Paul's mum?' Ash wondered aloud as he floated over to Reggie. The teen had an arm slung over his eyes, and his uncovered face looked sad. He was obviously worried about Paul. Ash let himself become visible, Reggie clearly not noticing.

'Um...you're Reggie right?' he asked. The boy shot straight up, obviously having almost suffered a heart attack. He looked around, spotted Ash, and almost fainted. After many attempts to speak, all of which failed, Reggie finally managed to say, 'Ash?'

'Yeah?'

'Oh my God. Oh my God. What...how..._when_?' Reggie stumbled. Ash was already seeing more than one difference between the two brothers.

'Ash, why are you transparent?' Reggie finally asked. 'And why are you here? Ghosts are meant to haunt their loved ones!'

'Why does everyone assume that?' Ash asked, almost to himself. Then he began to explain.

'Well basically, I woke up in hospital, and I was like this,' he said. 'And I saw, Dawn, Gary and Paul. Then they had this argument and some men came. And the men took us all away, along with my body. So I followed them. They took us to this airship in a truck, and we met this demon woman called J. She said a few things, then we got put this room with a guy called Cyrus. And it turned out Cyrus could see me. He told how I could become visible to others, so I did, and the others could see me. Then we devised a plan of attempted escape.'

'And that was?'

'Basically I snuck out, came and found you, and you would do something that involved everyone being saved,' Ash said sheepishly. Reggie rolled his eyes.

'You have a man who's famed for whist being evil, is also incredibly smart, off the scale smart, and three other people are relatively smart, and you come up with the plan of using a guy who looks like a ghost to tell someone, who when asked by the police where he got his information, says he got from a guy who whist looks dead, actually isn't. Wow," he said, clapping his hands. Ash went red. Then Reggie smiled.

'I must be mad, but I don't think I'm dreaming. Take me to my brother!'

Ash turned, then stopped.

'Y'know, when I first came out of the airship I found myself in Johto. And the ship was still moving. So...I actually have no idea where everyone is,' he said, looking embarrassed.

Reggie stared in disbelief.

'Please tell me you're joking,' he said weakly. 'Please tell me you are.'

* * *

Yes I'm introducing a complete lack of common sense. The next chapter will be up soon, I promise!


	9. Chapter 8

I can't believe it. I updated so quickly...(by my standards anyway). Enjoy.  


* * *

Reggie collapsed. 'Lord help me,' he said.

'You wouldn't have done it either!' Ash protested. 'Anyway, we just have to wait until the newspapers report something right?'

'J gets in the newspapers about once a year. She appeared a month ago.'

Ash faltered at Reggie's negativity. It was a fair point, how were they going to find the others? An amazing plot twist? 'There has to be something,' he said determinedly. Reggie shook his head. Ash glanced around, determined for something to appear to solve everything.

_Ring ring..._

The phone's ringing disrupted the silence and Reggie picked up.

'Hello...oh hello officer...right...good to know...where exactly? O.K, thanks, bye!' he said. He turned.

'We got the amazing plot twist!' he proclaimed happily. 'The police say J might have been sighted in the next town along.'

Ash's mouth dropped open. He felt faint with happiness, confusion, and downright disbelief. Surely this wasn't possible. 'How long does it take to get to the next town?' he asked. Reggie frowned as he did the math.

'It's Solaceon Town...so an hour if we drive.'

'Let's go then!' Ash yelled. Reggie smiled and ran out of the door, locked the house and walked over to a small car. Ash floated in and Reggie started the tin box that sounded like it hadn't been driven in ages. After going for a minute however it sounded alright.

An hour later the two climbed out of the car. Reggie turned to Ash. 'Scan the area,' he said.

'You should get some sleep,' Gary said to Cyrus. The man's bruises were a mixture of yellow and purple now, making them even more obvious. The blood had dried and hadn't been washed off. Large black bags were underneath his eyes. Gary hadn't seen the man sleep since they had got there. Nor had he seen him eat or drink, he had left his share for the three kids. The man was a zombie.

'I shouldn't,' Cyrus said in the same emotionless voice he always used. Gary frowned. 'Have you seen yourself?' he asked. 'You look like a zombie.' He glanced at the sleeping Paul and Dawn. 'What else is there to do anyway?' he asked. Cyrus didn't respond. He merely placed a hand to his hand like it hurt. Gary wouldn't have been surprised if it did. The room fell prey to silence and Gary fell asleep.

'There's so much to do,' Cyrus said suddenly. 'So much to do if you're me.'

* * *

Mystery? I suppose so. See you next chapter!


	10. Chapter 9

Oh My God! Two chapters in a day! Wow! Anyway, enjoy!_  


* * *

They were were in his reach._

_So why were they so far away?_

_He could see them, hear them in the silence, so why couldn't he reach them. He reached out, but his fingers fell short._

_Then he lost it._

_The power he had had from birth. The power to sense strong auras._

_It was gone._

'_Hello.'_

'_What's your name?'_

'_I'm Jimmy, who are you mister?'_

'_Who are you?'_

'_Hello.'_

_Oh God. Oh God no. He was scared now, completely terrified. Not even the gods could inflict this much terror on their own by just being there. He had always been alone, always longed for company. And now he had it. It was the aura of the people of the world. He could hear them all, even the dead people. His power hadn't gone, it had been upgraded. And now he knew everyone._

_No. Stop. NO!_

* * *

Yeah I know it's short, and it doesn't make any sense at the moment. But it will eventully, I promise!


	11. Chapter 10

"Reggie, I found them!" Ash yelled. The teen glanced around for a few seconds before finally looking up and finding Ash, floating with a smile on his face.

"They're a few miles out of town," he yelled. "Come on, let's go!"

Reggie decided to take the car, it was quicker and less tiring than running. He was stopped by Ash. "Don't bother, there's really thick forest before you get to them, it will take longer to go round it then to walk," he said. Reggie sighed and started running.

"They had to choose the thickest forest ever didn't they," Reggie muttered poisonously half an hour later. "I think I might have died and been reincarnated in that thing."

"Yeah, but we're here," Ash said. "Now what do we do?"

Reggie thought for a moment. "We sneak in, find Paul, Gary, Dawn and Cyrus. Then we sneak out, or rely on Cyrus coming up with an awesome plan."

"Wow that's basic," Ash muttered. Reggie glared at him. "And how do we get the keys?" Ash asked. "They aren't going to be in the lock."

"You had to pick holes in the plan straight away didn't you?" Reggie said. "Alright, we'll go on to Plan B."

_Half an hour later..._

"Seriously?" Ash said.

"Seriously," Reggie said. He was dressed in your typical minion uniform when working under J, given to him by the guard who was lying on the ground, unconscious, having been knocked out by Reggie. "They do it all the time in the movies, I just have to bluff my way to the keys and to the others."

"You're using a plan commonly found in movies," Ash said emotionlessly. Reggie glared at him. "Yes I am," he said. "And I'm hoping its gonna work." He started to walk towards the airship, but was stopped by Ash.

"You know, I can float in, find the others, then lead you right to them," he said. Reggie looked at him like he was mad.

"Why didn't you suggest that before?" he asked. "Hurry up and do it."

Ash disappeared and slipped through the walls of the airship. He floated aimlessly down corridor after corridor, an odd thing seeing that he was in an airship, not a mansion. Where were the others? He went through a wall and found himself in a broom closet. He floated back out and tried the next door. Apparently the rooms were soundproof, as Ash hadn't heard the man who was loudly singing inside. He tried again.

"Afternoon," Cyrus said conversationally from where he was sitting cross-legged on the floor. Ash wondered if he had actually moved during the whole time he had been away. "You find anyone?"

"I found Reggie," Ash explained, now half in and half out the room. "Back in a minute."

He drifted out of the room and back outside, memorising the basic route. He found Reggie outside, looking board. He made himself visible again and Reggie blinked in surprise.

"I found them," Ash said. "Come on."

Reggie sighed and followed Ash, who after some concentration managed to only barely make himself visible. The airship suddenly seemed small, as if it was trapping them.

"You!"

Reggie did an impressive job of not jumping out of his skin. He turned and said, "yes sir?" to a man who looked like a combination of a rugby player, professional wrestler and a giant. Ash was amazed Reggie didn't take several steps back as the man walked over and towered over Reggie, who's head barely reached the man's chest.

"You going to check on the prisoners?" the man asked.

"Yes sir," Reggie said with as much confidence as he could summon which was a surprising amount. To his immense relief the man took a step back. To his horror he reached into his pocket. Then to his immense relief the man merely produced a key and handed it over.

"It's the key to the room," he said, a faintly mocking look in his eyes.

"Oh," Reggie muttered, feeling incredibly stupid as he took the key. "Thanks sir."

"Your welcome," was the reply as the man walked away. Reggie gasped with relief as he disappeared.

"That was too bloody close," he muttered. "Now show me the way!"

"You sound like a guy from a movie," Ash muttered as he flew towards the room. He soon reached it and checked it was the right one. It was. Reggie speedily unlocked the door and flung it open.

"Reggie!"

"Help," was all Reggie could mutter as he was rugby tackled to the ground by Paul, Gary and Dawn.

"You finally came!" Dawn yelled joyously as Cyrus and Ash quietly observed Reggie being crushed by the three teens.

"Poor guy," Ash commented.

"Afternoon!"

The commotion came to an abrupt silence as several people appeared at each end of the corridor, all wielding guns. Reactions varied. Paul had a "seriously?" expression on his face, Reggie was wearing a "damn" face, Gary and Dawn looked like Greek tragedy masks, Ash was mostly "…" and Cyrus was emotionless.

"What can we do for you?" Reggie asked hopefully.

"Get back in that room," the man who seemed to be the leader said. All eyes turned to Cyrus. The man in question sighed heavily and motioned for Reggie to come over. After being released he did. Cyrus got to his feet.

"Help me with this door," he said, giving the poor door a few good kicks and pulling on it. Reggie did the same thing and together the two men managed to get the door off it's hinges, with the help of a gun Reggie found in his pocket (he shot the bullets at the hinges).

"Alright…" Cyrus said. "Time to go with Plan A."

"Which is?" Reggie asked.

"You'll figure it out pretty quickly," Cyrus said, picking up the door. "Try not to get hit by any bullets."

And with that he left the room and began running towards one group of men, using the door as a shield. Reggie clicked almost straight away, and began running towards the other group of men.

"What kind of plan is that?" Gary asked as he and the others retreated.

"Duck!" Cyrus bellowed. Reggie did so and with strength no one had ever considered possible, Cyrus threw the door Frisbee style towards the other side of the corridor. It crashed violently into the first row of men and Reggie managed to slip under as their feet left the ground and they flew back, crashing into the other men.

"That worked remarkably well," he commented, looking at the stunned men. The lack of the door however gave Cyrus a problem. He was hopelessly outnumbered, everyone was easily as strong as him, and they were all holding guns.

"Kill him!" the leader yelled.

"I thought I was meant to be alive…" Cyrus said, drifting off as about ten guns, all fitted with silencers, found their way to his head. The condemned man sighed and shut his eyes as triggers were pulled. After about five seconds after the silenced shots, everyone figured out something was wrong. Dead people were supposed to fall if they were standing when they died, gravity had their effect. But Cyrus remained standing. And, to increase the whole oddness of the situation, he swiftly turned and dealt an uppercut to the leader's chin. The man's head snapped back and he staggered backwards, clutching his jaw.

"What the hell?" one man bellowed, coming to his senses and bringing his gun down on to Cyrus' head. It shattered. The man looked at the few lumps in his hand, then shock his hand violently as if it had been hit, probably glad he hadn't used it to hit Cyrus' head. He was promptly kicked by Reggie, who seemed to be keeping his disbelief contained for the moment, and had run over. The rest of the man appeared to come to their senses then and a violent brawl erupted.

"What the hell was that?" Paul asked in disbelief.

"I think he might have used aura," Ash said. "Used it to deflect the bullets or something."

"I did!" Cyrus yelled from the middle of the fight.

_His hearing's amazing! _Was the thought that went through the kids' heads as Reggie disappeared under about five people jumping on him at the same time and Cyrus was the victim of a gun being swung into his ribs, this time not shattering. He doubled over in pain and gasped for breath as a foot crashed into his chin. He stumbled back as Reggie loudly swore and hooked an arm over a captor's head. He smashed it into the ground and slammed his elbow into another man's neck. The man in question shot up and crashed into his friend's chin. Both collapsed, one gasping for breath and coughing like mad. Reggie threw off the other two and violently slammed his foot into someone's face. A sickening snap occurred as the man's nose broke. He howled in pain and his hands flews to his face.

BANG!


	12. Chapter 11

This is the last chapter. Thanks to all those who read this story all the way through and I hope you enjoy.  


* * *

Everyone suddenly went silent and stopped. Then Reggie moved his hand to his chest and an expression of pure shock came over his face. He stumbled back towards the wall and fell to his knees. And then he fell forward, the expression of shock still on his face. Nobody saw the blood, the bullet must have stopped in Reggie's chest. Nobody knew who had fired. Ash felt a sudden tug, as if a rope was attached to him and someone was pulling it as hard as they could.

"Reggie!" Paul bellowed. His voice broke through the silence and seemed to wake everyone up. Cyrus scanned the men around him before grabbing the shirt of one and pulling him forward. His fist collided with the man's nose, breaking it.

"Die!" someone yelled. Another man's eyes widened at the sight of the gun.

"Don't fool! You'll hit one of us!" he screamed as Cyrus kicked him.

"Damn…" Ash muttered as the throbbing in his chest increased. "What the hell is happening to me?"  
"There they are!"

"You've got to be kidding me…" Cyrus muttered as even more people charged towards him. He grabbed Reggie and sprinted for the gap where the door had been. He ran straight past it. Every bad guy followed him except for five.

"The boss will forgive us if we get rid of one or two of them," one of them said as they approached the kids. He and another lifted their guns and prepared to fire them into Paul and Dawn's faces.

To make a fairly short story even shorter, they failed to fire the guns.

For all of you wondering how the hell this happened please read on. Everyone else can skip this part (the part in bold is where you should next look).

It was at this point in time that the world before Ash turned and twisted, then lost its colour. Just as he shut his eyes the entire room was filled with light, blinding everyone. The two men with guns fell back, clutching the face around their eyes. The other three winced and shut their eyes. Which prevented them from seeing the foot that was fired into someone's face. And a fist into another's.

**START READING HERE**

"Well that was weird," Gary said, retracting his fist. "Who kicked the other guy?"

It was a minor miracle that he didn't see Paul's face turning completely white. How it evaded him no one quite knew, but he did manage to pick up on the fact that there was someone behind him. He slowly turned, then screamed.

"Holy cats!" he yelled, jumping into Paul's arms, then allowing himself to be dropped as both realized what they were doing.

"It's only Ash," Dawn said, who seemed completely calm. "What's so scary about it?"

'It's scary seeing someone who was half dead twenty seconds ago!" Gary protested as he climbed to his feet.

"But you've been in the same room as Cyrus for the last day or something," Ash said. He was standing, looking perfectly fine albeit a bit dazed, right where Gary had been.

"What the heck just happened?" Paul said, whose brain was still trying to catch up.

"I have no idea," Ash said. "There was that big flash of light and then I woke up in my body. No idea how it happened."

"It was the gunshot," Gary said certainly. Everyone looked at him in surprise.

"Ash couldn't remember anything right?" Gary exclaimed. "But when he heard that gunshot it acted as a trigger. He remembered everything and that somehow made his…soul let's say, go back to it's body."

"Sound passable…" Paul muttered.

"Quit…following…us!"

The voice nearly deafened everyone in the room, but it served as a good wake-up call to the fact that they were still in the bad guy's…lair.

"Split up!"

A different voice this time, following by the sound of a lot of feet. Then one of J's minions, a hat pulled firmly over his face, skidded to a stop and dashed into the room.

"EKKK!" Dawn yelled.

"Shhhh," the minion said as he pressed himself against the wall. "Get over here."

"What are you…" Ash started, being cut off by Paul grabbing him and pulling him to the side with Gary and Dawn. The sound of several people running past was heard.

"These guys are persistent," the minion muttered, removing the hat from his head.

"Reggie!" Gary yelled.

"Yes?" Reggie said.

"You were…just then…what?" was all anyone could get out.

"Oh, me getting shot?" Reggie guessed. "Staged it, Cyrus figured we could use the scene to get Ash's memories back. It worked well obviously," he finished, looking at Ash.

"You didn't have to scare us all like that!" Paul exclaimed. "Couldn't you just have fired a gun?"

"Sorry," Reggie said. "But can we please have this conversation elsewhere? Like, off this airship perhaps?"

It was at that point that the airship shock violently, and the sound of it's engines starting was heard.

"What's going on?" Ash said.

"We're taking off," Gary said, suddenly realizing it.

"What?" Reggie exclaimed. "We can't take off, how are we meant to get off?"

"Run!" Dawn yelled. "Find the exit!"

"Already on it," Ash yelled, racing out of the room. The others followed him.

Cyrus tried to ignore the fact that he was being chased by several men who all had the intent to knock him out, or possibly kill him. He had to find J, and fast. That was what he needed to concentrate on. But J really hadn't made the place visitor friendly. Everywhere looked the same, he felt like he had passed the same door fifty times. Or maybe he had, he had a feeling that they was a fifty on all of them…what was he doing? He wasn't helping himself by thinking like that. He knew that the next door would lead to J. He had to lose the idiots who were following him. He ran past the door, round a corner then jumped up. And grabbed on to the bars of an air-conditioning. He had ten seconds until the idiots caught up. He pulled the grate out, let it clatter loudly to the floor, then sprinted off and around another corner and through the second door he came across. He soon heard the annoyed yells or his pursuers, waited ten seconds then left the room and started down an alternative route to the room J was in. He was there half a minute later.

"I finally found you," he gasped as J turned to face him, a look of surprise on her face. "I finally get to kill you."

And he launched himself forward. J screamed as he crashed into her and sent her towards the door. The door that lead outside. Je screamed as they crashed through it and hurtled into the sky.

"What was that?" Reggie said at the sound of a scream.

'Let's check it out," Gary said. They were currently trying to find the exit whist avoiding everyone else. So process was very slow. But they ran to the source of the scream, a room with a door flung open. And the door outside was open. The group ran over and saw a lake directly beneath them.

"Jump," Reggie said.

"From this height? We'll kill ourselves!" Dawn protested. "It's at least one-hundred meters!"  
"It's a lake, we'll live," Reggie said. "Probably."

And with that he knocked Ash, Paul, Gary and Dawn off the airship and jumped after them.

"AAAAGGGGHHHH!" Paul, Ash, Gary and Dawn screamed as they plummeted towards the ground. "HELP!"

Then they hit the lake. It was like hitting concrete. They sank at least twenty meters before recovering enough to even realise they were underwater. They started to swim, after letting their bodies hit the bottom of the lake and begin to drift upwards. They broke the surface and coughed up water madly.

"We're…alive," Dawn said as she glanced around and saw everyone appearing. Then they swam ashore.

"I'm…alive."

That was all Cyrus could think about. He had fallen one hundred meters and lived. J hadn't. She lay beside him, her body completely broken. Those were the fact. He tried to move, but discovered he couldn't.

"Your neck's broken."

That voice…he recognised that voice.

"Really?" he said in his mind. "That explains it. Me being unable to move."

"You want a big funeral? Flowers, massive gravestone, all of that?"

"No. I just want to be forgotten. Then I can just…live."

"Living when you are dead…is it possible?"  
"I can hear those who are dead. They live in my mind. Now they will die and be reborn in a new mind."  
"You haven't changed a bit. You still think it's simple. Life and death are different. Life can not be returned. It will not be your life, it will be someone else's. That is the truth of life and death."

He received no answer. Cyrus was dead.

"I found him!"

The old man turned to face the five running towards him, soaking wet.

"Hey, who are you?" Ash exclaimed. The old man didn't answer, merely turned to leave.

"Hey, old man!" Ash yelled.

"I'm Cyrus' grandfather," the old man said. "And I'm going to get a spade so I can dig his grave. He didn't want a big one."

"He's…dead?" Dawn said.

"Yes. He and J are both dead."

Paul sat down abruptly. "Why are you here?" he asked. "I thought Cyrus came from Sunnyshore, shouldn't you be there?"

"I heard him and tracked him here," the old man said.

"What's that meant to mean?" Gary yelled.

"How about I tell you about Cyrus?" the old man said. "It will all make sense then."

"Don't…" Ash started, but Reggie stopped him.

"Let him speak," he said. The old man smiled.

"Our family, has an odd power. We can sense the aura others release. And the emotions. Aura reacts to what it's owner feels. Cyrus could sense aura, and it didn't work. He was smart, so amazingly smart. But he didn't have the right sort of mind for his power. It couldn't imagine, couldn't change. Negativity releases a stronger aura than anything else. And people are full of negativity. Cyrus started to become consumed by the pain that he felt, so he locked himself away, denied himself company. He became interested in machines because they feel nothing, they are man-made objects that have had there aura stripped away. And then he heard the legends of the time and space gods. He became obsessed with them, believing them to be the ones who could get rid of his power. And he was right, they could. So he summoned them, and used their power to grant his wish. And they did. The one that was stored far away, but was by far his strongest. He wanted company. He wanted to be around people without being hurt by their emotions. So the gods did it. They gave him the voices of everyone in the world, even dead people. It was all their aura speaking, like Ash was until recently. And took away the power he was born with. Cyrus could feel himself going mad, losing himself to the voices. So he made up his mind to die. Until you came along. You were caught by J, and Cyrus figured he could get rid of J, a terrible criminal who many feared, and die at the same time. It was perfect. But J escaped. But then she went and captured him for her revenge. And Cyrus took his chance. The result is in front of you."

He stopped and sighed. "There was at least one good thing from this. Cyrus found my voice, and told it everything. I heard. So he died knowing there was one person who understood him."

Cyrus was buried five hours later, and J was buried in a hastily made grave after her death was made obvious to the police. There was a lot of newspaper articles about the event, but they all missed out on the loneliest man in the world.

* * *

Does it make sense? I don't really think so but this just feels right. Thanks for reading!


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